LCCC Volleyball Wins OCCAC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Libero of the Year

By Press release submission

Nov 21, 2022

For the Lorain County Community College volleyball team this fall, star power combined with great coaching led them to a respectable 14-7 record overall with a 10-4 mark in conference play to finish in third place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference.

For their efforts, LCCC took home three of the five major postseason awards from the conference: Ted Whitsel – Coach of the Year, Chelsey Farris – Player of the Year, and Izabel Gallardo-Santo Domingo – Libero of the Year.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by your fellow coaches in what was a very competitive conference from top to bottom this year,” said Whitsel, who wrapped up his ninth season as head coach of Commodores last month.

For Whitsel, this is his first OCCAC Coach of the Year Award with LCCC. Over the course of his career, Whitsel has guided the Commodores to the NJCAA DIII National Championships three times with one runner-up finish (2014) and two fifth place finishes (2015, 2018). As a team, LCCC finished second in the OCCAC in kills/set (11.73), assists/set (10.72), digs/set (18.65), and points/set (15.7).

“As a coach, we are only as good as our players make us to be. This year, we were privileged to have a very talented team as can be seen by our season’s record and postseason honors.”

In addition to the postseason awards received, Farris was named First Team All-OCCAC and Gallardo-Santo Domingo made Second Team All-OCCAC. Both players are natives of Elyria, Ohio and attended Elyria High School.

“In my time here,” said Whitsel, “We have never had a player receive top honors in the conference. This year we have two being selected for top honors which is just really special.”

Leading the way for the Commodores all season was Farris. She led the OCCAC in kills per set with 4.07 (9th in NJCAA DIII), hitting percentage with .362 (6th in NJCAA), and points per set with 5.1 (5th in NJCAA). Defensively, she had top-ten rankings in solo blocks (41), total blocks (78), and blocks per set (1.05 – 10th in NJCAA).

Farris’ impact was felt immediately as she recorded 21 kills, hitting .472, and having six total blocks in her LCCC debut against Edison State on August 20, 2022. Her season high in kills came against Cuyahoga Community College on September 29 with 31. Over the course of the season, she won OCCAC Player of the Week four times in three different months (Aug. 22, Sept. 12, Oct. 3, and Oct. 24).

“During my tenure at LCCC, we have not had a player like Chelsey,” said Whitsel. “She received the Player of the Year award out of more than one hundred other players in the conference. Every match we played, Chelsey lead us offensively and set the LCCC record for hitting percentage. Chelsey has the ability to hit the ball so hard that defensive players feared her. Our coaching staff congratulates Chelsey on this award and greatly appreciate her making the time and effort it took to achieve this honor.”

Gallardo-Santo Domingo was steady all year long at the libero position for LCCC. She finished first in the OCCAC in digs per set with 5.57 (15th in NJCAA) and eighth in total digs with 418. In all 21 matches she played in this season, she recorded at least 10 or more digs.

On nine occasions, she had more than 20 digs and in four matches she had 30 or more. Her season-high in digs came on September 29 against Cuyahoga Community College with 41. Apart from her prodigious numbers in the dig categories, Gallardo-Santo Domingo failed to get a service ace in only eight matches this season. Her season-high in service aces came on the first match of the season against Edison St with six.

“When Izabel came to preseason practices,” said Whitsel, “We knew she was a gifted volleyball player. It took a little time to figure out how this very athletic player could best help the team. Thankfully, donning the different color uniform gave us the best chance to compete and fellow coaches awarded her the honor of Libero of the Year. “Iz” led the conference in digs/set as a freshman and we thank her for all the bruises and floor burns she took for the team this year.”